vchimpanzee said:
passtheword said:
vchimpanzee said:
Silkie said:
Doing ballads with a rockin' bridge can be considered lite and easy. Another one in the top ten is Take It On The Run, Baby.
On Lite 95.9? They need to just throw this format in the green container and roll it out to the road.
I would agree with Silkie that the mix of music could be considered "lite and easy". Lite 95.9 sounds more like soft AC stations did 25 yrs ago. Somebody mentioned WEZV on the thread here. Isn't that more an adult standards station? If so, I could see how a typical adult standards/WEZV listener would take issue with Lite 95.9 being considered "easy" and not care for it, but I don't see where the term "easy" to describe this station would be "stretching" it.
As far as putting the format "in a green container" and "rolling it out on the road"...why? It sounds better than what the current soft AC stations are offering. If you're looking for adult standards music, there are already stations offering that type of music.
Let's say I was stuck in Charleston. Tell me what those stations are. And if this station is marketing itself as "Lite and Easy", how long would those stations last?
And I take issue as a WEZV listener because that station claims to be "easy" yet Arbitron lists it as "soft adult contemporary" (and the man running WEZV says that's on purpose and he won't change it) meaning they are already considering identifying with that type of audience, abandoning those of use who want the good music. Just the fact that they would use that term means they're not fully committed.
As for WIOP's use of "easy", using that term and playing any REO Speedwagon song other than "Can't Fight This Feeling" is as ludicrous as WLTW in New York continuing to use the term "Lite" at all.
As far as WLTW calling themselves "lite" being ludicrous...I would tend to agree with you in much the same way that the current version of "soft AC" stations (those such as WLTW) aren't really "soft AC", but that's according to both mine and your interpretations, not the radio industry's. The format, like any other, has evolved over time, so yes...by industry standards, WLTW
is a soft AC station, whether we agree with that definition or not. The same reasoning applies with adult standards...personally I don't care for this mix of traditional soft AC within the standards format we have today (I would rather it be as it was 25 years ago when the format offered Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Glenn Miller and other big band orchestras) but the format has evolved to appeal to a younger demographic, and so that "new mix" is what is now known as "adult standards"...it's not what we feel the format should be but how it is marketed.
Regarding REO Speedwagon...many of their hits were not incorporated in the original version of the soft AC format that was on the radio 25 years ago. I do recall hearing "Just Can't Fight This Feeling" on our local, and other, soft AC stations back during that time, but several of their other hits have been added since that time. Yes, I would agree some of their hits are a little "harder edge" than "Just Can't Fight This Feeling", but the format was never meant to be "easy" in the format's inception, anyway; it was defined as a hybrid format of easy listening and adult contemporary. It seems a lot of these newer upstarts offering traditional soft AC, such as WIOP, Easy 93 in Miami, Carolina 92.1 are now marketing themselves more as "easy listening". Part of that is due I suppose to the fact that some of the original adult contemporary sound has been removed and the format focuses more, if not exclusively, on older material than was the case with the original format. Also, some of it is due to just because the definiton of "easy listening" has changed from what it was a quarter century ago. Listeners' definition of "easy listening" varies widely. You may find that some of the traditional soft AC listeners (those listening to the format now who weren't 25 years ago) might disagree with you that "Can't Fight This Feeling" should be offered on stations such as Easy 93 and others like it. Take for instance this BIV group you and I are members of. If you asked them if they thought that song was considered "easy listening" (at least the REO Speedwagon/non-instrumental form), you would find many of them wouldn't give it a second thought to tell you that it was not. Again...we can base what a format is or shouldn't be on our own personal tastes, but ultimately it comes down to how the industry defines a particular format. As I mentioned on the soft AC/EZ board a few weeks back, the programming for WIOP sounds closer to the
industry definition of "soft AC" back 25 years ago...the sound most soft AC stations had at that time.
What about REO Speedwagon's "In My Dreams"? I do remember that particular track being played on many soft AC stations back 25 years ago. Musically speaking, it doesn't seem that different to me than "Can't Fight This Feeling" (as far as it being considered "Lite"). I haven't heard that on WIOP as of yet, so I'm not sure if that is on their playlist or not.
